Chapter 8: Creating and using a Career Development Course to Prepare Life Science Students for Career Decision Making

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Practically every child has been asked this question, inspiring excitement initially and panic frequently when they are young adults. Throughout their early education, students were introduced to a limited buffet of career options: teaching, law, public safety (firefighter/police officer), healthcare, engineering, trade careers, and military service. If high school graduates pursued college, the question advanced to “What are you majoring in?” The paradox of these questions was that students “don’t know what they don’t know” in terms of career options, yet they have been expected to select their careers with little or no knowledge about careers or career options, the problem of practice (PoP) leading to these studies. Further, students often felt obligated to select financially stable and secure career pathways. They have been bombarded with messages about lucrative, desirable jobs, which were commonly categorized under the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) umbrella.